Summary Of The 57 Bus By Dashka Slater

Gender is like water, it’s fluid, someday that ideology will be accepted. The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater handles the topic of gender diversity. It talks about a gender-nonconforming person named Sasha and their experience living in America and how America treated them. The book tackles the topic by helping the reader understand the journey and course Sasha had to figure out how they identify compared to others. It also signifies that Sasha isn’t much different from others just because of their identity- that they’re just as normal as everyone else. People under the non-binary or transgender umbrella struggle to achieve the American Dream today because of how they get treated differently, stereotypes, and social norms.

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There are many stereotypes that surround people under the non-binary umbrella, the most common one being that transgender people are attracted to children, the less common and overlooked one being that they are nymphomaniacs. The article states: “Debbie's mind kept going to the sex part. Who did Sasha want to sleep with? After Sasha announced they were genderqueer, she asked for clarification. Who are you attracted to? Do you have sexual feelings for men? Slater. In the book, a cisgender character named Debbie is actively sexualizing Sasha unknowingly. Her mind constantly travels into the area of Sasha’s sexual life after Sasha came out about their genderqueer identity to Debbie. This happens more frequently, even in simple daily life; people tend to be more intrusive about genderqueer people’s sexual identity because of their curiosity without consent. There is a stereotype that tends to be true in very rare circumstances, and because it is true sometimes, people start to believe it. The stereotype being that non-binary people are obsessed with their gender and their sexual/romantic attraction. Because of their curiosity, they start asking more questions about it, connecting to the example of Debbie intruding on Sasha's personal life. However, not all genderqueer people are fine with people intruding on their sexual life just like cisgender people. Because of these stereotypes, genderqueer people felt unaccepted, violated, and disgusted by this normalized stereotype inflicted upon them. Wherever they go, they will be sexualized and analyzed by outsiders, even at work, hospitals, debates, etc. This makes it harder for them to achieve the American dream. Many people also have the internal stereotype that genderqueer people are